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Review
. 2023 May 7;28(9):3946.
doi: 10.3390/molecules28093946.

Hydrogels for Oral Tissue Engineering: Challenges and Opportunities

Anfu Chen  1   2 , Shuhua Deng  1 , Jindi Lai  1 , Jing Li  1 , Weijia Chen  1 , Swastina Nath Varma  2 , Jingjing Zhang  1 , Caihong Lei  1 , Chaozong Liu  2 , Lijia Huang  3
Affiliations
Review

Hydrogels for Oral Tissue Engineering: Challenges and Opportunities

Anfu Chen et al. Molecules. .

Abstract

Oral health is crucial to daily life, yet many people worldwide suffer from oral diseases. With the development of oral tissue engineering, there is a growing demand for dental biomaterials. Addressing oral diseases often requires a two-fold approach: fighting bacterial infections and promoting tissue growth. Hydrogels are promising tissue engineering biomaterials that show great potential for oral tissue regeneration and drug delivery. In this review, we present a classification of hydrogels commonly used in dental research, including natural and synthetic hydrogels. Furthermore, recent applications of these hydrogels in endodontic restorations, periodontal tissues, mandibular and oral soft tissue restorations, and related clinical studies are also discussed, including various antimicrobial and tissue growth promotion strategies used in the dental applications of hydrogels. While hydrogels have been increasingly studied in oral tissue engineering, there are still some challenges that need to be addressed for satisfactory clinical outcomes. This paper summarizes the current issues in the abovementioned application areas and discusses possible future developments.

Keywords: dental pulp; hydrogels; mandible; periodontium; tissue engineering.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Applications of hydrogel in oral cavity.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Synthesis process of GelMA.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Schematic illustration of precise pulp regeneration procedure.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Schematic diagram of hydrogels applied in periodontal regeneration.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Schematic diagram of mandibular restoration using hydrogel biomaterials.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Role of hydrogel patches in treating oral mucosal diseases.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Synthesis mechanism of Chitoral.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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